May 2022

There were 15 posts published in May 2022 (this is page 1 of 2).

How change happens

Seth Godin had a great post last week that speaks to Ken Smith’s citizen toolkit post, here are the key paragraphs:

Going to the protest of the day, performing acts of slacktivism, hopping from urgency to emergency–this is how people who day trade in our culture are whipsawed. But the people who are consistently and actively changing the culture are not easily distracted. One more small action, one more conversation, one more standard established.

The internet would like us to focus on what happened five minutes ago. The culture understands that what happens in five years is what matters.

Focused, persistent community action is how systems change. And systems concretize and enforce cultural norms.

If you care, keep talking. Keep acting. Stay focused. And don’t get bored.

Hey Lazyweb and Org mode users! I tried to install org-opml this weekend but had problems – anyone else tried this?

A great example of organizing information for use

Ken Smith wrote a post yesterday showing a great example of activities that wedding attendees could participate in around the wedding date. The example was an outline created in Drummer and published using the drummer.this.how construct/PagePark plugin. This could be done for any event, with a permanent URL that can be sent to a group, and updated as needed since Drummer is a web app. Or – this could be a set of instructions, which could be updated based on feedback. Or – this could be an agenda for a meeting. Or – hopefully you are getting the picture – it could be any information that can be easily structured in an outine. Boom!

The urge to fiddle around

Every so often (well, at least once a week….), I read about different blogging tools and think “I would like to try that out…”. Then, I remember this picture, and think “My WordPress setup is just fine, I don’t need to look at other blogging tools” (he says as he types this post in Drummer to publish with Old School). But…I had some time this weekend (Memorial Day holiday), so I spent some time looking at two tools related to Drummer.

The first tool was drummerCMS (a shell for the Old School blogging tool to connect with Drummer). Some time ago, I saw that Scott Hansen wrote a post about running drummerCMS locally, and that it could generate a set of files from the OPML blog file. I set it up per his post a few weeks ago, but had a problem, and set it aside. This weekend, I reached out to Scott Hansen, and he said that his original post had an error in the build URL, and he had updated the post. I tried it again, and it did create a set of files, but not the finished product I was hoping for (a set of HTML files that I could upload to a hosting site). I did a little looking through Old School, and saw that the tool is tied into uploading to Amazon S3, and although parameters related to that could be changed, the tool seemed to do the final render as part of the S3 upload. Sigh…setting it aside again… 

The second tool was written by Antranig Vartanian, and was using an XSLT style sheet to style an OPML file from Drummer as a blog. I took a slightly out-of-date copy of my blog.opml from Drummer, copied it to a folder on my web hosting service, copied the XSLT style sheet, added a link to the style sheet within the OPML file, and was able to create this rendering of my Drummer posts. Fun!

I guess a batting average of 1 out of 2 is not too bad…must…stop…fiddling….

The end of podcasting, chapter 58

In chapter 57, Joe Rogan had just done his licensing deal with Spotify. In today’s chapter, John Sullivan writes for The Conversation (via NiemanLab and Stephen Downes) about other recent (meaning 2021-2022) corporate attempts to corral podcast listeners into silos. Here are the final paragraphs:

On the one hand, the traditional, scrappy, upstart version of podcasting will survive thanks to the open architecture of RSS. Podcasting still has relatively low barriers to entry compared with other media, and this will continue to encourage independent producers and amateurs to create new shows, often with hyperniche content. Crowdfunding sites like Patreon and Buy Me a Coffee allow creators to make money off their content on their own terms.

As companies like Spotify, Amazon, NPR, SiriusXM and iHeartMedia aggressively monetize and market exclusive podcast content on their platforms, they’ve positioned themselves as the new gatekeepers with the keys to an ever-expanding global audience.

Independent podcasting isn’t going away. But with the promotional power concentrated in the hands of the very biggest tech firms, it will be increasingly challenging for those smaller players to find listeners.

My response: WHO CARES! I started two podcasts (Convocast and Thinking About Tools For Thought) without any media empire support. Did I make any money? No, but that wasn’t why I created those podcasts. I did it for fun and to share information/perspectives with others. Yes, “money talks”, and people will do anything to make money (think “streaming services”). For my recommendations on how to address this, read chapter 57.

I wish people like John Sullivan and Andrew Bottomley (professors of media) would create their own podcasts instead of spending time saying “podcasting is dead” (in so many words).

Looking for tools for a citizen’s toolkit

In April, Ken Smith wrote about the need to citizens to provoke change in their government He asked this question: “What tools do citizens need to make this essential contribution to their democracy?”. Ken created an initial list, but I would like to suggest three other sites for resources.

Community Tool Box from the University of Kansas: “Get help taking action, teaching, and training others in organizing for community development.” 

City of Orlando: Neighborhood training source

City of Orlando: Taking Your Leadership Skills to the Next Level (PDF)

City of Cupertino: Neighborhood Block Leader Resources

Starting a political journey

The political primary for the state of Oregon was last week, and I was pleased with the results overall (most of the candidates I voted for won). I have had the feeling for some time that although voting is a necessary condition to maintain democracy, it is not sufficient by itself. Participation by the voters in the democracy is also required to keep it strong. Last fall, I signed up for the newsletter for my county Democratic Party committee. I have not done any more than that up to this point. Well, today, I sent for some information on the Neighborhood Leader Program. It is a small step, but long journeys begin with the first step. I will work to take one political action each day. Hopefully, this journey will make me more of a participant in our democracy.